My minorly edited diary

Dmir: What are you drinking?
Eleanor: I don't know. Elliot! What am I drinking?
Elliot: Eighty Shilling.
Dmir: Why on earth did you give her eighty shilling?
Elliot: Hey man, I'm doing you a favor.

This conversation makes a lot more sense now that I know that eighty shilling is stronger, lol.

Alright, so in the town of Fort Augustus I managed to find a computer with internet access! Huzzah! Oh dear god, I'm such a junkie. ^^;
I've decided to save time and money by giving you a transcription, with minor editing, of my diary of this trip thus far. Rather dry, but you'll get an idea of what I've been up to! :-D Oh, and please excuse typos- I don't have much time to edit!

Thursday, July 1st, 2004
The Great Glen Way: Day 1

Yesterday, Jessamine and I took our time. I mean, really tok our time. We slept in till noon, went to the internet cafe, had lunch from the deli with Nicki, repacked our bags, and watched some of Billy Conolly's "World Tour of Scotland," all befor finally getting a bus to Fort William via Glasgow.
The countryside was extraordinarily beautiful on the way up, which brings me to an important point: I'm never leacing Scotland. Sorry, folks, if you want to see me, then you'll just have to visit, and you to will never want to leave! ^_^
We stayed in a hostel in Fort William, and had the most incredibly delicious Indian dinner! (Lee, are you reading this?) I know, you're thinking, "Indian? You're in Scotland! Shouldn't you be eating haggis?" Well, I will have you know that I tried haggis on Wednesday, and it was darn good! And as for Indian fod here, it was very, very good- I put away vast quantities of fod, and enjoyed it immensely.
Unfortunately, I didn't really sleep last night. A shame, really.
Oh, and I'm convinced that there was a poltergeist in the bathroom at the hostel. ^_^
This morning we got up and went to a cafe for coffee and danishes, which we relaxed over, and ran a few errands in town.
Around eleven we finally began our walk, which tok us past old Inverlochy Castle, built in the 13th century and now in utter ruins, and the site of the Battle of Inverlochy, where the Campbells crushed Argyle's troops. We bought sandwiches and such at a grocery in Corpach (which we ate in an impressive wind), at the north end of Loch Lynnhe, before continuing on our way along the canal tow path to Neptune's Staircase, where we marveled at the wonders of swing bridges.
After passing the Staircase (a series of canal locks), we ran into a couple who had been on our bus from Glasgow, and had stayed in our hostel. As it turns out, they're also walking on the Great Glen, but in one day fewer than us, and they made no reservations, so we'll see in the morning whether they found a place to stay!
They're an interesting couple- Marcel is from Geneva and Helen is from Beijing. Helen didn't say too much (and what she said was done with a heavy accent), but Marcel was really quite funny, so we made a jolly little group. For this first day, we followed the canal which was slightly less scenic, I think, though now and then we caught glimpses of Ben Nevis, shrouded in clouds off to our right.
So, we walked to Gairlochy today, and bid farewell to Marcel and Helen at the single phone box there, which as a town is practically nonexistent.
Our B&B is wonderful, though. Its owner, Helen, welcomed us with hot tea and good conversation, and she served us a wonderful dinner, along with a Swedish couple. Jessamine did most of the chatting- I'm afraid that not sleeping last night is wearing on me. I really ought to be asleep with my eyemask on, like Jessamine is in the next bed.


Saturday, July 3rd, 2004
Days 2&3

yesterday mornign I awoke refreshed to a large, hot breakfast with the Swedews courtesy of Helen. Now, the Swedes really know how to hike- their water bottles were tiny, but their thermoses of hot water for tea and coffee were huge! Ah, sweet, sweet caffeine!
Jessamine and I set out in nice weather, and left Mucomir (with its five houses), entered Gairlochy (four houses, a graveyard, and a phone box), and then rejoined the Way. The path meandered along the western side of Loch Lochy, through some absolutely beautiful forest. We're talking fairytale forest here- the moss grows several inches thick, the tree trunks are green, and there are ferns everwhere- some taller than me! If you've been considering a trip to a tropical countryside to enjoy the greenery, but are afraid of the bugs, come to Scotland! You'll still be eaten alive by midges, but they're a lot less scary than cockroaches, I can assure you!
We soon over took the Swedish couple, who were stopping to have a snack and some tea or coffee, and we admired their method. It had begun to rain, so coffee was sounding better and better. Unfortunately, it was still midmorning!
We left the Way on an interesting detour. We stopped at the petite Clan Cameron museum, and walked up to Loch Arkaig from there. The museum had some interesting stuff about Bonnie Prince Charlie, which was entertaining, including some relics such as clothes. the loch was beautiful, and on the route back towards Loch Lochy we topped at some waterfalls to eat the lunches which Helen had packed for us. We didn't linger long, as the midges were also ready for lunch, and moved off down the Dark Mile, a road so named because the forest presses in so densely on either side. We'd just reached the ruinds of the old family home of the Cameron family, when we were caught in a downright torrential downpour. We moved on, and the rain became the unifying theme of the rest of the day. We walked along Loch Lochy, sometimes being drenched, sometimes almost getting dry. The path was unfortunately pretty boring since it's just a forest service road, though there were some really beautiful waterfalls. (At least the rain's good for something, eh?) We eventually just sat down and waited for a patch of sunshine, which we could see upwind of us, to come. It eventually did, and we set off again, fairly bedraggled at this point.
We were passed by a couple of bicyclists- the trail was quite deserted.
We eventually came down a hill to discover, to our great surprise, Helen and Marcel awaiting us! They'd found out from the bicyclists wehre we were, and had determined to take a break complete with digestive bisquites until we arrived. They'd managed to find a place in Spean Bridge the night before, htanks to a concerned Scotsman who had driven them up and down the countryside. And so it was with more company that we finally arrived at the Laggan locks, and traipsed the last, grueling mile to the Loch Lochy Youth Hostel. Jess and I dined in style (canned soup, canned lentil dhal over rice, and canned fruit cocktail, lol). We both slept very well, once we managed to get into our beds. Seriously, who builds bunk beds with no ladders?!?

Today we had much better luck with the weather, plus the Way was shorter (only 11.5 miles to yesterday's 14), and flat. Flat is good.
We parted ways with Helen and Marcel at the Laggan Swing Bridge (the highest point of the canal, at 106m ^_^), and continued on the Way up the east side of Lovh Oich, the smallest and shallowest of the three lakes. It was a beautiful path, which sometimes followed the old rail line. We could see the ruins of Inverggarry Castle on the other side of the loch, and there were wild irises all over. The weather was beautiful and sunny too! We walked on into Abercalder, and into the Thistle Stop Tea Room for lunch. Our timing was impeccable- no sooner had we ordered our enormous lunch than there was a huge storm outside, complete with thunder and flickering lights.
Once the weather had cleared and I had teetered about a little on my pathetically cramped legs to make them work again, we set out once more in mostly nice weather to walk to Fort Augustus along the canal. The guidebook was right- after seeing Gairlochy and Laggan, Fort Augustus, at population=510, seems like a regular metropolis! There's a store! With food! Praise God!
Alright, I'd better get out of here. I'm in the Neuk, a pub right along the canal. "Mr. Piano Man" is playing on the loop of music, which I already know means that "American Woman" is on next.
I hope everything back home is very, very well! I miss you, but I'll see you very soon! I'm dreaming of Home. ^_^